Broadband speed just suddenly almost halved.

[bobbear]

Last year I was moved onto VDSL2 from ADSL2 and up until a few weeks ago I was getting downstream line rates of around 6-6.5Mb/s and download speeds of around 5-5.5Mb/s. Suddenly a few weeks ago I noticed my line rate had dropped to 3.8Mb/s with a downstream rate of c.3Mb/s

I tried contacting CS but all they would say is that if it exceeds your minimum speed of 1Mb/s then they can't do anything.

Any suggestions? I don't really want to go back to ADSL2 because of the low upstream speed but I'm understandably miffed at my downstream speed almost halving overnight. The line is quiet, BTW and I don't use wifi. I tried another VDSL2 router (Billion 8800NL), but no better.

HH Smarthub2 Line stats

Product code:Smart Hub 2
Serial number:+091301+1951010807
Firmware version:v0.27.06.04290-BT
Firmware updated:Tue Jul 20 20:53:04 2021
Board version:R01
GUI version:1.74 12_11_2020
DSL uptime:5 days,12 Hours30 Mins05 Secs
Data rate:1.109 Mbps / 3.8 Mbps
Maximum data rate:1.109 Mbps / 4.027 Mbps
Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off
Noise margin:6.4 / 6.3
Line attenuation:21.0 / 41.1
Signal attenuation:21.0 / 34.2
VLAN id:101
Upstream error control:Off
Downstream error control:Off
Data sent / received:792.8 MB Uploaded / 8.1 GB Downloaded
Broadband username:bthomehub@btbroadband.com
BT Wi-fi:Activated
2.4 GHz wireless network name:BT-67ACJ2
2.4 GHz wireless channel:Channel: 6
5 GHz wireless network name:BT-67ACJ2
5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel40)
Wireless security:WPA2 (Recommended)
Wireless mode:Mode 1
Firewall:On
MAC address

Availability check data:

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Handback
Threshold(Mbps) WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability Date Left in Jumper
High Low High Low
VDSL Range A (Clean) help 6.1 2.7 1.2 0.8 1.8 Available Available --
VDSL Range B (Impacted) help 6 2.5 1.2 0.8 1.7 Available Available --
Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install Process
FTTP on Demand 330 50 -- Available --
ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) ADSL Availability Date WBC SOADSL Availability Date Left in Jumper
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 1 -- 1 to 3.5 Available -- --
WBC ADSL2+ Annex M Up to 1 Up to 0.5 1 to 3.5 Available -- --
ADSL Max Up to 1 -- 0.75 to 2.5 Available -- --
WBC Fixed Rate 0.5 -- -- Available -- --
Fixed Rate 0.5 -- -- Available -- --
Observed Speeds VDSL ADSL
Max Observed Downstream Speed 3.24 4.83
Max Observed Upstream Speed 1.1 0.45
Observed Date 2021-07-24 2020-06-03
Other Offerings Availability Date
VDSL Multicast Available
ADSL Multicast Available
Premise Environment Status
Bridge Tap Y
VRI N
NTE FacePlate N
Last Test Date 24-08-2021
Exchange Product Restrictions Status
FTTP Priority Exchange help N
WLR Withdrawal help N
SOADSL Restriction help Y

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

WLR is currently available at the exchange

SOADSL is restricted at the exchange

FTTP is not available.

For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (VDSL or G.fast) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Actual speeds experienced by end users and quoted by CPs will be lower due to a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

The Stop Sale date for IPstream is from 12 Jan 2018.

If you decide to place an order for a WBC fibre product, an appointment may be required for an engineer to visit the end user's premises to supply the service

In order to be eligible for handback, downstream speed should be less than Downstream Handback Threshold values.

Thank you for your interest

[imjolly]

which exchange and cab are you on?

according to dslchecker your speed range is 6.1/2.7mb and you are well in the band.  you max attainable is 4mb so you are virtually at attainable.  checker also shows speed on 24/7 was 3.24mb

[bobbear]

Thanks for the reply - much appreciated.

I'm on Woodchurch fibre cabinet 2

My timing may be a bit out as I do not check my speed from one week to the next, but certainly when I first went on VDSL2 my D/S line rate was c.6-6.5Mb/s, which was pretty well the same as my ADSL2 D/S rate before so I was quite happy, even though there was no actual improvement. It may be 2 or 3 months back when the change occurred, but I can't say for sure as I do not monitor my speed, but it has happened..(Certainly 24/7 must have been after the drop). Are BTW line test results logged anywhere?

[imjolly]

connection time was only 5 days were you have problems with connection dropping or maybe few resets trying to get speed back or maybe combination of both?

you are on Huawei cab so if you can keep a stable connection then the DLM may activate G.INP which will give a slight boost to your connection speed and at same time drop your noise margin to nearer 3db

[bobbear]

Thanks - yes, you are correct the connection won't even stay at 3.8Mb/s and if it drops to 2.9 Mb/s or below I do a hub reset to get it back up again. I have let it go more than 10 days in the past in the vain hope it would drop the S/N margin, but it just ended up with 2.9 Mb/s - it won't stay at 3.8 Mb/s never mind above it.

BTW - I found an old Ookla ADSL2 speedtest I did in 2011:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1097337636.png

and the first the first VDSL2 BTW 'Superfast' speed test on switch-on  I did on 11th.June 2020:

Downstream sync speed: 4.817 Mbps
Upstream sync speed: 1.205 Mbps

I left it on for 10 days and it did go up, but I've no record of exactly where it ended up.

Not brilliant, (not as good as I had previously on ADSL2), but I can't even achieve anywhere near that now - something has changed. I notice that the BTW test does seem to exaggerate the performance compared to Ookla or whatever.

The water is a little bit muddied by the fact that when I was on ADSL2 I could get a stable connection by forcing the sig/noise margin to 3dB (Billion 7800N router)- so I had a stable 6Mb/s line rate and it would stay there, but this connection now won't even stay at 3.8Mb/s for long - 5 days must be close to a record.. Something has definitely happened to the connection - we did have contractor damage in June to cables in the vicinity, (UK power networks were installing a 150mm power duct in the road and one of the BT/Openreach cables appeared to have been deliberately severed on a nearby pole which cut off one of my neighbours), and it could have been about that time the change occurred.

It's just frustrating to be going backwards when the rest of the world is going forwards and complaining that they've only got 220Mbps or whatever..

[bobbear]

Well, my service network has been up for more than 8 days now and is still at 3.8Mbps downstream line rate - hoping it will reach 10 days this time..

Just did a BTW speedtest this morning: PING 168 ms DOWNLOAD 2.40 Mbps UPLOAD 1.29Mbps

I found the original service forecast before I was transferred to VDSL in June 2020:

Broadband Fibre Essential

Your service will start before midnight on: 05 Jun 2020 How fast will it be? 4 - 7 Mbps Your estimated download speed 1 Mbps Your estimated upload speed Your Stay Fast Guarantee Your Stay Fast download speed is: 2Mbps We constantly check and optimise your speeds. You can also test the speed to your hub by logging in to My BT. If it's slower than it should be, we'll run checks to fix the problem and send out an engineer if needed. If we can't get your download speed back to where it should be within 30 days of a problem being reported, we'll give you £20 back, up to four times a year. Find out more about your Stay Fast Guarantee. You can also leave your contract without penalty. This is because we've signed up to Ofcom's Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds. More about your speeds Maximum download speed: 7Mbps Maximum upload speed: 1Mbps Minimum upload speed: 1Mbps On average, customers on the same broadband package get a download speed of: 36Mbps

I used to get in excess of 5Mbps download speed, (c. 6 Mbps line rate at 3dB S/N margin), on my 'old' ADSL2 service prior to the changeover to VDSL2 in June 2020. Either there's a fault or all the rumours about throttling of VDSL2 'legacy' services are true. In view of my present service performance I would suggest the above information that persuaded me to accept the 'upgrade' to "Superfast" (ho ho ho), VDSL2 was somewhat misleading.. Unfortunately there's a 'Stayfast', (ho ho ho), 'get out clause' of a 2Mbps guarantee, which I'm marginally over.. I feel a bit like I've been conned..

[imjolly]

when you initially said line is quiet it should be silent on quiet line test. dial 17070 option 2 and best with corded phone

can you post current hub stats please

[bobbear]

Thanks for taking an interest - much appreciated.

Firstly the 'quiet line' test. I do normally do it via 17070, but I must admit that sometimes it's quicker and easier just to hit '1'... Anyway the 17070 result using a non-mains powered corded phone as recommended is: No discernable crackles or random noises, just a discernable low level steady hum on top of the usual slight hiss.

Secondly the stats, (I assume these are the comprehensive ones you want from my Smart Hub 2, but if you require others, please ask and I will get them for you.

I've had to sacrifice my record 8 hours plus connection time to get these,  but the first lot are via my standard BT V1.0 filtered faceplate and the second lot are via a good old BT MF50 filter plugged into the faceplate back socket:

Via ADSL V1.0 filtered faceplate:

Board version:R01
GUI version:1.74 12_11_2020
DSL uptime:0 days,00 Hours05 Mins18 Secs
Data rate:1.109 Mbps / 3.8 Mbps
Maximum data rate:1.109 Mbps / 4.040 Mbps
Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off
Noise margin:6.2 / 6.7
Line attenuation:21.3 / 41.4
Signal attenuation:21.3 / 34.5
VLAN id:101
Upstream error control:Off
Downstream error control:Off
Data sent / received:0.4 MB Uploaded / 3.7 MB Downloaded
Broadband username:bthomehub@btbroadband.com
BT Wi-fi:Activated
2.4 GHz wireless network name:BT-67ACJ2
2.4 GHz wireless channel:Channel: 6
5 GHz wireless network name:BT-67ACJ2
5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel40)
Wireless security:WPA2 (Recommended)
Wireless mode:Mode 1
Firewall:On
MAC address:0C:8E:29:CD:59:96
Software variant:-
Boot loader: 0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Face plate back socket Via BT MF50 ADSL filter:

Board version:R01
GUI version:1.74 12_11_2020
DSL uptime:0 days,00 Hours00 Mins55 Secs
Data rate:1.097 Mbps / 3.8 Mbps
Maximum data rate:1.097 Mbps / 4.046 Mbps
Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off
Noise margin:6.1 / 6.8
Line attenuation:21.4 / 38.5
Signal attenuation:21.4 / 34.6
VLAN id:101
Upstream error control:Off
Downstream error control:Off
Data sent / received:0.0 MB Uploaded / 0.1 MB Downloaded
Broadband username:bthomehub@btbroadband.com
BT Wi-fi:Activated
2.4 GHz wireless network name:BT-67ACJ2
2.4 GHz wireless channel:Channel: 6
5 GHz wireless network name:BT-67ACJ2
5 GHz wireless channel:Smart (Channel40)
Wireless security:WPA2 (Recommended)
Wireless mode:Mode 1
Firewall:On
MAC address:0C:8E:29:CD:59:96
Software variant:-
Boot loader: 0.1.7-BT (Thu Nov 30 09:45:22 2017)

Hope that helps - not a vast difference to my untrained eye... Call me a suspicious old git if you like, but it always seems to negotiate exactly 3.8Mbps - ADSL2 seemed to to negotiate a different speed every time you connected..

Just out of curiosity, is there such a thing as a filtered faceplate that is optimised for VDSL2?

P.S. - latest BTW speedtest: PING 263 ms DOWNLOAD 2.55 Mbps UPLOAD 1.28 Mbps, as I said, about half downstream speed to what I used to get on ADSL2, (and also initially on VDSL2), but I admit a better upload speed..

Once again, thanks for your help.,

Kind regards, Bob

[licquorice]

There should be no 'usual slight hiss', the quiet line test should be totally silent.

There is no VDSL specific filtered faceplate.

[imjolly]

stats are vey similar with filtered faceplate or using a filter - the filtered faceplate is ok for vdsl

I don't think you are going to get any faster unless as I said before the DLM instigates G.INP which would give a slight boost to speed by lowering your noise margin.  You would need about 10 days stable connection before that is likely to happen